jeudi 2 mai 2013

Display turns water surface into an interactive digital screen

The AquaTop consists of a display projected onto the surface of water, controlled by interacting with the liquid.

New ways of interacting with digital displays can bring about important new possibilities for working – as the Kinect-basedIntera system for surgeons has proved. Now Japanese researchers have unveiled the AquaTop, which consists of a display projected onto the surface of water, controlled by interacting with the liquid.

Demonstrated at the Laval Virtual
conference in France earlier this year – where it won the Interface and
Materials Award, as well as the Grand Prix – the interface was
developed by researchers at the University of Electro-Communications in
Tokyo. The AquaTop uses cloudy water to act as a projection surface and –
similar to the Intera
– detects gestures with a Kinect. The creators engineered the system to
use the water surface as an integral part of its control – for example,
one action is carried out when users dip their fingertips to interact
with a screen object, and another when they approach the item from
underneath the water. On-screen items also react to the movement of the
water, meaning that they can be moved or changed by simply disrupting
the surface with a splash, or scooping up the water and placing it
elsewhere.

The system has currently been rigged up primarily as a platform for
games – with an underwater speaker included to create ripples when a
goal is achieved – although the researchers have also demonstrated how
it could be used to interact with computer files such as images and
video. The following video shows the AquaTop in action:

AquaTop shows the possibilities of widely-available consumer products
in the creation of engaging and intuitive new ways to interact with
digital objects. Considering how many of us take our devices with us
wherever we go, this could be used practically – bringing electronics
safely into the bathroom, for example – or for creating unique public
displays. If water can become a medium for digital interaction, surely
the possibilities are endless?